Monthly Archives: September 2015

One of the must-eat in London is to have their traditional afternoon tea. And to pair with the musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, we went for the “Charlie and the Chesterfield Afternoon Tea” (Kid’s version is the Little Oompa Loompa Afternoon Tea).

What a beautiful tea room…

There is the option for champaign but we adults opted for tea and kids had milk shakes.Kid’s versionOverall, everything was good. I liked their scones the best.

All items are refillable but we actually weren’t able to finish the first round even though we hadn’t had lunch.

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We had an easy morning, delicious breakfast at Karpo Restaurant in Megaro Hotel.

Then we went to try our luck at Buckingham Palace for the Change of Guards – arrived just when it started, didn’t see a thing….I guess people went there at least an hour earlier to get a good spot. We were glad it wasn’t on the other day or it would be packed inside the Palace.

We walked from the Palace to Mayfair where we have booked afternoon tea at The Chesterfield Mayfair.

Gorgeous neighbourhood, lots of expensive cars parked on the roadside.

The first night went well, kids woke up in the middle of the night but managed to fall back to sleep after a while. First stop of the day was Buckingham Palace. Since there was no change of guards that day (on alternate days only), the area was not crowded at all. We were disappointed (didn’t have the schedule at the time we booked the tickets) but it actually turned out to be an advantage.

As it wasn’t a crowded day, we got to tour the inside of the Palace comfortably.

We spent around two hours at the palace and by then it was about time to head to lunch at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental.

After another two hours of relaxing lunch, we headed west.

Strolled passed Harrods…would be nice to do some shopping but we have more important thing to do. 🙂

Victoria & Albert Museum … not our destination…

And we finally arrived – Natural History Museum!

There are so much to see in the museum and a lot of information to take in. We only managed to cover most of the exhibits on dinosaurs. I would recommend to allocate a day or even two for the little ones to appreciate the exhibits at their own pace.

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Special thanks to our friend who had been trying to sort out lunch arrangements with Dinner. Due to the nature of our group (5 kids), the restaurant has arranged for us to dine at their private room (less hassle for everyone!). Excellent in both food and service! Happy kids too!They have different set lunch menus – the ladies chose the 3-course while the gentlemen took the 4-course one. First thing first – all kids had steak & fries. Very tasty and cooked perfectly – crunchy on the outside and juicy inside. I wouldn’t mind a portion for myself. Savoury Porridge – frog’s legs, smoked beetroot, garlic, parsley & fennel. Nice juicy frog’s legs.

An orange! No, this is the famous “meat fruit”!! Made with mandarin and chicken liver parfait. Rice & Flesh – saffron, calf tail & red wine. It was good risotto but the “orange” took all the attention. 🙂

Roast Turbot with mussel & seaweed ketchup, salmon roe & sea rosemary – cooked perfectly, so good my daughter ate half of it (after her steak). Hereford Ribeye – good steak but I am afraid the one the kids had was even better.

Another of their famous dish – Tipsy cake – roast pineapple and sweet bread. Very nice but a bit too filling for the end of the meal.

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Our first Indian fine dining experience and with 5 jet-lagged kids! It turned out to be a great meal and kids were happy. The restaurant does not welcome kids after 8.30pm so we started early. They put us in a quiet corner so we don’t need to worry about disturbing others.